Small increase in EU car registrations in September

Total European passenger car registrations in September 2005 amounted to 1,439,004 units, an increase of +1.9% (and of +2.1% in the EU-15) with respect to September 2004. As the number of working days was exactly the same for the considered month, this figure seems to indicate a progressive recovery of the market. Cumulative figures for the first nine months of the year show an almost flat situation (-0.1 %) for total Europe and a slight increase (+0.6%) in the EU-15.

In terms of national markets, four of the five main markets posted positive results in the month: France (+7.5%), Spain (+4.6%), Germany and Italy (both +3.5%), the U.K. (-3.2%) being the only exception. Portugal (-2.8%) and Greece (-1.8%) were the only two other countries in the EU-15 posting losses while the remaining eight smaller countries posted positive results, ranging from + 15.1% in Ireland to +0.7% in Austria. EFTA countries saw an increase of +4.8% while new EU Member States ended the month with a loss (-6.1 %) driven by Poland (-15.8%) and the Czech Republic (-12.7%).